Fall of oil prices will impact on Venezuelan imports, say analysts

Economy Oil analyst José Toro Hardy considers that the decline of oil prices is due to a "sharp slowdown of global economy. There is no doubt that Venezuela is "one of the most vulnerable countries to this crisis," he said. Toro Hardy, who participated in a forum organized by Veneconomía, a specialized publisher in the economic and financial area, to assess the potential impact of the crisis affecting the major global economies, said that when linking the Venezuelan production with the current price of crude oil, there are no doubts that the Latin American country will suffer a serious impact on revenues. "According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Venezuela's produces 3.3 million barrels a day. However the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that it produced 2.3 million barrels per day at the end of August," said José Toro Hardy. As a result, said Toro Hardy, the only sure source of income is the windfall of petrodollars coming from oil exports to the United States, which represent 1.2 million barrels a day.